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_^N TH N Y WALT IM A/v'H i T E 



MEMOIR 




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CONTINENTAL ARMY. 



MEMOIR 



OF 



BRIG GEN.ANTHONY WALTON WHITE 

OF THE 

CONTINENTAL ARMY. 

COMPITiED BY 

ANNA M. W. AVOODHULL, 

Of Fi-eehoia, TST. J, ! -' ! . ". ' . • 



Presented to the New Jersey Historical Societj/, at Xeirark, 
May ISth, 1883. 






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Of 



MEMOIR. 



Brig-adier General Antlioiiy Walton White sprang from an 
ancient and honorable family in the west of En,o-land, which, 
throngli six successive generations on this continent, was 
noted in the elder l)ranch for its attachment to military life. 
Anthony White was a zealons officer in the civil wars which 
distracted the reign of his sovereign, Charles 1. Shortly 
after the demise of the Crown, disgusted with the Kou)id- 
heads, he set sail for Virginia; hut, stopping at Bermuda, 
resolved to remain there, and snbse((nently became connected 
with the government of those islands. | 

Upon the Restoration, he was appointed a member of the 
King's Council, and chief of one of the groups, an office which 
appears to have become hereditary, as it was attached to the 
elder brancli for several generations. At the commencement 
of the political dissensions which followed the establishment 
of William of Orange on the English throjie, Anthony AVhite, 
the second of the name, inheriting his father's military predi- 
lections, was appointed Lieutenant Colonel, serving with tlie 
army in Ireland and at the battle of the Boyne. In reward 
for his services, he was ap})ointed a member of the King\s 
Council and Chief Justice of the Bermudas. He was suc- 
ceeded as chief by his eldest son, Leonard AVhite, who, with 
the hereditary thirst unquenched, obtained a commission in 
the British Navy, and served with distinction in tlie Wars of 
the Succession. 

Antlionv White, the oldest son of the last-named Leonard, 



4 MEMOIR OF BRIG. GEN. ANTHONY WALTON WHITE. 

sailed for New York about the year 1715, for the puri)ose of 
recruitiiif;- lii.s shattered health. After one year's residence he 
married a Miss tStaats, and soon after died on his homeward 
passage, leaving an only son, Anthony White, who, after 
having amassed a large fortune by various civil offices in the 
Siate of New Jersey, obtained through the influence of his 
family, at last took up the profession of arms, and was com- 
missioned a Lieutenant Colonel in 1751. He married Eliza- 
beth, daughter of Govern(n- Lewis Morris, of New Jersey. 
His only son, and fourth child, Anthony Walton White, was 
born July 7th, 1750, at his seat near New Brunswick, New 
Jersey. He received his middle name from his relative and 
godfather, William Walton, of New York. Of his early life, 
there are no records. 

Being the only son of a family eminently in the patronage 
of the Government, he was educated with much care under 
the strict supervision of his father, with the expectation of 
inheriting large estates. At an early age we find him, with 
the insatiable cupidity characteristic of the servants of a 
monarchy, in possession of several important and lucrative 
offices, farmed in like manner as those of his father, and no 
doubt with equal success. Without any event to distinguish 
his life, he remained thus, the nominal holder of these offices, 
quietly pursuing his studies with his father, and assisting 
him in the care of his large estates, till the outbreak of the 
memorable Revolution, when an ardent disposition and a 
sincere love of country induced him to seek adventure in the 
martial service of his native land. In October, 1775, he' 
received his first military appointment,' as aid to General 
Washington, in whose military family he first heard the din 
of war. In February, 1776, he was commissioned by Con- 
gress as Lieutenant-Colonel of the Third Battalion of Ncav 
Jersey troops, and as commander of the outposts of the army 
under Washington, he was actively engaged in the service at 



' Anthony Walton White, Blajor and Aid-de-Camp to George Washington, Octobei-, 
17V5; Lieutenant-Colonel Third Battalion. First Establishment, February 9th, 177(5. 



MEMOIR OF BKIOt. GEN. ANTHONY WALTON WHITE. 5 

the Nordi till 1780. In the commencement of that year' lie 
was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel commandant of the First 
Kegimont of Cav.ilrv, and shortly afterward was ordered by 
(Jeneral Washington to the South to take command of all the 
cavalry in the Southern army. 

In July of 1780, having ))een repeatedly urged by Creneral 
Gates to hasten the equipment of the cavalry, and join the 
army then marching to meet Cornwallis in South Carolina, 
but despairing of the promised assistance from the govern- 
ment of Virgiui;!, Colonel White procured, upon his own 
personal credit, tlic funds necessary to remount and support, 
for a short time, two regimeuts, with which he marched to 
join General Gates, Init not in time for the unfortunate battle 
of the 16th of August, at Camden, wliich was lost for want 
of cavalry. 

Early in 1781, Colonel White was ordered to Virginia, 
again to co-operate with the army under Lafayette against 
Cornwallis. During his marches to that State, he was 
engaged in various successful skirmishes against the cele- 
brated Colonel Tarleton. The following winter was spent in 
the Carolinas, watching and endeavoring to check his old 
enemy, Tarleton. In the maneuver of General Wayne before 
Savannah, on the 21st of May, 1782, Colonel White contrilj- 
uted largely, by the boldnesss of his charge, in effecting a 
happy result. Upon the evacuation of that place by the 
British forces, he returned to South Carolina and entered 
Charleston immediately after the retirement of the enemy, 
where the generosity that distingnished'him was again exem- 
plified, ])j his becoming security for the payment of debts 
incurred by the officers and men of his regiments, who had 
entered the city in want of almost all the necessaries of life. 
Bv agreements between himself and his officers and men, he 



' Lieutenant-Colonel Fourth Regiment, Light Dragoons, Continental Army, Feb- 
ruary 13th, 17T7; (tliis regiment appears to have performed its services mostly in the 
South, where the commanding officer achieved a national reputation as a brilliant 
cavalry leader;) Lieutenant-Colonel commandant, First Regiment, ditto. Decem- 
ber 10th, 1779; Colonel, ditto, February 16tli. 17t!0.— Official Regi.sterof the Officers 
and Men of New Jersey in the Revolutionary War, by Adjutant-General Stryker. 



G MEilOIR OF BRIG. GEN. ANTHONY WALTON WHITE. 

was to T)e protected from ultimate loss by payment in 
tobacco — which seems to have been the only sustained cur- 
rency of the times — that was to be delivered to him at 
Charleston, on a certain distant day. Owing to the failure 
of the crojis of that year, or the inaliility of the officers to 
fulfill their contracts, Colonel White was obliged, for the 
satisfaction of his creditors, to part with property at the 
enormous sacrifices peculiar to that period. 

In tJie s])ring of 17.S3, Colonel White was married to the 
young, beautiful and wealthy Margaret Ellis; we say young, 
for this beautiful girl Avas then in her fifteenth year. Edu- 
cated in a city held by a foreign and mercenary enemy, she 
exhibited an accomplished mind and firmness of temper, 
which ever characterized and sustained her in the sunken 
fortunes of her old age. After the establishment of peace, 
and about a year after his marriage. Col. White retired Avith 
his family to the North, to si)end the remainder of a life 
upon which fortune, Avith a fcAv trifling exceptions, had as 
yet shed only a pleasant liglit. Shortly after he had arrited 
at the North, he Avas unluippily })ersuaded by tAvo friends and 
late officers in the army, to embark in a speculation A\hich 
nearly ruined him; for being the only responsible party, he 
Avas obliged to meet all tlie obligations of those concerned 
Avith him. 

He noAV beheld, Avith consternation, creditors of whom he 
had ncA^er l)efore heard, Avho like the Shylocks of reality, 
demanded of him Avhat, to a nuin of liis constitutional habits 
Avas life itself; and in satisfying them, he dissi] ated entirely his 
OAvn estates, to Avhich, by the death of his fa' her, he had just 
succeeded. In 1703 he removed from New York, Avhcre he 
had resided since the Avar, to New Brunswick, N. J., his 
native town, where he remained till the close of his life, in 
1803. In 1794 he returned again, for a short time, to mili- 
tary life, being api)ointed by President Wasliington General 
of Cavalry, in the exjiedition under Lee against tlie AVestern 



MEMOIK OF BRIG. GKX. A N'T II OX Y WALTON WHITE. V 

insurgents, in the delicate management of which he not only 
won the esteem and apjn-obation of the inhabitants of the 
district in which the army was ({uartered, but also the grati- 
tude of the prisoners, whom, upon the close of the expedition, 
he conducted to Philadel])hia. 

General White petitioned Congress for payment of the large 
sum he had advanced during the dark and troubled days of 
the Revolution, and which, in the settlement of his accounts 
with the State of Virginia, had not been allowed for want of 
full legal evidence. 

Born a favorite child of fortune, while such, he possessed 
and exercised and rejoiced in all the brilliant and fascinating 
(jualities by wliich men shine in society; and when, in later 
years, he saw wealth, with all its eclat, take to itself wings, 
though dismayed and despondent, still he faltered not in the 
principles that had characterized his life; but, wrapping 
about him the robe of patient endurance, like the stern old 
Roman, died with the grace that became one who could not 
with dignity complain. 

Often have the walls of his ancient domicile echoed with 
the voices of Washington, Hamilton, Gates, Kosciuslvo and 
others of like distinction. The latter made it his home 
during a severe sickness, where he received the kind atten- 
tions of Mrs. White and her daughter which he so gratefully 
acknowledged in numerous letters now in possession of the 
family. 

General White was a member of the society of " The Cin- 
cinnati,'" the order of which descended to his heir and grand- 
son, Anthony AValton White Evans, Esq. His monument 



1 Mrs. Martha J. Lamb, in her " History of the City of New York," 1881, gives an 
account of the granfl procession three clays before the adoption of the Federal 
Constitution by New York, July 23d. 1<;88 (the State Convention did not adopt it till 
July 35th): " Mounted on a fine gray horse, elegantly caparisoned and led by two 
colored men in white Oriental dresses and turbans, Anthony Walton White bore 
the Arms of the ' United States' in sculpture, preceding the Society of the ' Cincin- 
nati,' in full military uniform." 



8 MEMOIR OF BRIG. GP]N. ANTHONl WALTOX WHITE. 

(l)encatli the shiidow of Christ Church, New Brunswick, N, 
J.), bears the following inscription:' 

Brig. Gen. Anthony Walton White, 

Who departed this life 

on the 10th of February. 1803, 

In the 53d year of his age, 

Eests beneath this monumental stone. 

lie was an affectionate husband, a tender parent, a sincere and 

generous friend, a zealous and inflexible patriot, 

and a faithful, active and gallant officer 

in the Army of the United States 

during the Revolutionary War. 



MEMOIR OF RRI(3. GEX. AXTHOXY AVALTOK "n^HITE. 



APPENDIX I. 



The insignia of " The Order of the Cincinnati" consists of a blue badge 
bearing a gold eagle, enameled. The order was conferred upon Kosciusko, 
who, on his return to this country ni 1798. exchanged eagles with General 
White, the same worn by the brave Pole on the day he destroyed the Rus- 
sian arraj in 1794. It may not be amiss to state, in this connection, that 
this interesting relic still (.'xists. owned and greatly prized by General 
White's representative and only surviving grandson, Anthony Walton 
White Evans, Esq., of Westchester county, New York, who is also an 
honored member of oui- only chivalric order. After ten years' residence in 
South America and recent extended European travel, this gentleman is 
spending the noon of an active life in the quiet enjoyment of scientific 
and literary pursuits. Among many similar contributions from Mr. 
Evans' pen, we mention two most cordially welcomed by her Majesty's 
Colonies, viz: A "Paper" (at the request of the New Zealand Govern- 
ment) on " the Preservation of Timber." Also, an ■•Opinion,' at the 
request of the British Government, through Hon. Mr. Childers, now 
Secretary of Wa)-. on the much- vexed question of '" Railway Gauges" for 
the Colonies, which Paper was published as a Parliamentary document 
in Victoria. Calcutta, Valparaiso and Switzerland. 



APPENDIX IL 



(i^'lXP:ALOGK!A[> AXl) liKMfK APIIICAI, XOTKS. 

The ancestor of the first Anthony White, of the Beriinidas. wa* Capt. 
John White, sent t(^ Virginia by .Sii- Walter Raleigh in 1587. as Governor 
of his colony. He returned in l--)88. witli supplies in two vessels; but 
desirous of a gainful voyage, ran in searcii of Spanish prizes, until, at 
length, one of the vessels was overpowered, boarded and lilleil. and bt>th 
ships were compelled to return to England. Me returned in l.~)90. onlv to 
find the island of Roanoke deserted. Ijeonard (probably his son) emi- 
grated to Virginia iii 1H20, Governor \A'Tiite's daugliter. Kleanor Dai-e. 

2 . 



10 MEMOIR OF BRIG. GEX. A XTHOXY WALTON WHITE. 

gave birth to a child, the first offspring of English parents in the New 
World. One of his brothers, Sir John White, also went to Bermuda, 
probably in 1609, with Sir George Soiuers. It was " the terrible tempest" 
and shipwreck which dispersed this company in the alwve year, which in 
1611 suggested Shakespeare's master-piece, " The Tempest." Sir John 
White married a descendant of Sir Owen Tudor, the ancestor of King 
Henry the Eighth, and 2d husband of Katharine, widow oC the great 
Henry Fifth. 

White, Joanna, sister of Gen. White, b. Nov. 14, 1744, d. s: p: June 
36, 1834; 3d wife of Col. John Bayard, b. in Cecil county, Md., Aug. 
11, 1738. He was a member of the Council of Safety, Speaker of the 
House of Representatives, in 1785 a member of the old Congress then in 
session in New York. In 1789 he removed from Philadelphia to New 
Brunswick, N. J. ; Mayor of that city and Judge of the Court of Com- 
mon rieas. He died Jan. 7, 1807. He was a patriot of spotless public 
and private life, of whom Bancroft says: ''He was personally brave, 
pensive, earnest and devout." He was the great-great-uncle of the present 
Senator Bayard. 

White. Euphemia, 2d sister of Gen, White, b. Dec. 10, 1746, d. s: p: 
Jan. 29. 1832: married Hon. William Paterson. LL.D., b. 1745; grad. 
N. J. College. 1763; one of the founders of the Cliosophic Society of said 
college in 1765: Counsellor-at-law; in 1775 member of the Provincial 
Congress of New Jersey : Attorney-General of the State in 1775; in 1788 
United States Senator; in 1793 nominated by Washington As.sociate Jus- 
tice of the Supreme Court of the LTnited States: in 1794 Governor of New 
Jersey; died Sept. 9. 1806. 

Staats — This family was priginally from Albany. Dr. Abraham Staes, 
who came to New Netlierlands in 1642. was. the ancester of the Staats of 
the present day, the name having assumed shortly afterward, the termina- 
tion it now bears. Dr. Samuel Staats, son of Majoi- Abraham Staats, of 
Albany, studied his profession in Holland. When the Province of New 
York surrendered to the English, in 1664. he returned to Holland, remain- 
ing there till the Prince of Orange ascended the English throne, in 1688, 
when he returned to New York, and died there in 1715. He obtaine<l 
some prominent position in -lava, thi-ough tfie influence of William of 
Orange; and while there married an East India "Begum," or Princess, 
by whom he had six daughters, all of whom married. In May, 1700, he 
again married Catharine Hawarden, of New York. Of the nint* children 
whicli he had in 1703, tlie first five were probal^ly born in Java or Holland. 
The i?«//«H'« six daughters were born ms foUows: 1. Sara/K mar. Isaac 
Gouvernier in 1704. Their daughter Sarali l)ecamc the 2d wife of Col. 
Lewis Morris, of Morrisania. 2. (jnirude, mar. in 1716 Andrew Coeje- 
man. of Coejeman's Manoi', near Albany. 3. Catalina, baptized in New 
York June 16, 1689. 4. Anna Elizabeth, bap. Dec. 21. 1690. mar. Capt. 
Johannes Schuyler. 5. Joanna, bap. Jan. 81, 1694; mar. in 1716 Col. 
Anthony White, of "The Bermudas." She mar, for her 2d husband 



MEMOIK Of BKIG. UKS. A NTHON'Y WALTOX WHITE. ]1 

Admiral Norton Kelsall, R. N., whose portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller 
(1646-1 72!5) is in possession of the Evans family. This great artist painted 
ten crowned lieads, among whom were Louis Fourteenth and Charles the 
Second. 6. Trynlje, bap. April 5, 1697. and first wife of Col. Lewis 
Morris, llis second wife was Tryntje's own niece. Two sons, among the 
'' Ji)i/)iur/als," were born of these two marriages, viz.: General Lewis 
Morris, signer of the "Declaration," and Gouverneur Morris, author of 
"The Constitution of the United States." who were half-brothers. 
Another brother, General Staats Morris, mar. in London Catharine, 
Dowager-Duchess of Gordon, and d. of William, 3d Earl of Aberdeen. 
Their grandfather, Lewis Monis. was first royal Govej-nor of the Pro^^nce 
of New Jersey, after its separation from New York in 1788. lie was born 
in 1672, d. May, 1746; owned large estates in Monmouth county, N. J. 
He married "a Graham of the Isles," of the family of the Earl of Mont- 
rose, and daughtei' of James Graham. Attorney-General of New York. 
8d Nov., 1691, is the date of their marriage. 

Ellis, Margai-et. Her mother was a Vanderhorst, sister of Elias Van- 
derhorst, American < 'onsul at Bristol, England, in 1780. He is honorably 
mentioned in the last edition of Jane Porter's " Thaddeus of Warsaw." 
Elias Vanderhorst was the immediate lineal descendant of Baron Vander- 
horst, of Holland. In America, the adopted country of the Vanderhorsts, 
one nephew of Elias Vanderhorst filled the office of Governor of South 
( arolina, another that of Secretai-y of State, and a third that of General. 
This family is repi'esented by the children of the late Major Arnoldus 
Vanderhorst. of Charleston, S. C. — BnrAe'.s • History of the Oo/nnions." 

AUTHORITIES QUOIl.O IllOM. 

White^Capt. John Smith's Hist, of Vir . 2d ed.. foho. 1620: MS. 
Pedigree, 1640-1884; Gov. John Whitr. in Landrunrs account of Raleigh's 
( olony, in Hist, of Amer Rev.. 1790: Lossing"? •• Field.-Book of the Revo 
Intion," 2d vol., p. 244, 1850. 

6')!««fc.— O'Callaghan's Hist, of New Xetheriand. ]>. 820. 1846, and 
" C'ontributions for the Genealogies of tiie First Settlers of the Ancient 
Countv of Albany, from 1680-1800." l)y Prof. Jonathan Pearson. 1872. 
Also Staats in Morris family Record, quoted in July No. of N. Y. Gen. 
and Biog. Record for 1878. p. 149. 

Morris — Pedigree in Bolton's History of the County of Westchester, p. 
284, 1848. 

Gov. Paterson — Wiljiam Pateison's .Mciuorial of, before Cliosophic 
Society, 1865. 

Col. Bayard — Memorial of, by Gen. James Grant Wilson. 1870. 



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